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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/28/2021 in Posts

  1. I exchanged a few messages with Harry Simmons (sales rep for Victory) and it seems they are starting out with the most popular sizes and styles. My opinion is they are taking advantage of the covid sales boom, and the fact that often in the last year items were out of stock from older known vendors. I recently was asked to work on a project using some Victory hooks. I was sent Mustad, Eagle Claw, and Victory hooks in the same sizes. I found on testing the Victory hooks were very sticky sharp. At a glance they look very good and on pull testing they were as strong before permanent bend as similar size premium hooks. Since I do custom work and I am often asked for a "perfect" (no such thing) fit for a particular hook I started measuring across batches of hooks. The one thing i noticed is visibly there was not any real difference, but when I started measuring and fitting the Victory hooks I had slightly less consistency in exact shape than other premium hooks and even some regular line hooks. Its not horrific, but I had to make things a little sloppier. The eyes weren't consistently the same flatness. The shanks weren't consistently the same straightness. The radius and angle of the bend (90 in this case) were not perfect from hook to hook. I think for a cross over hook in a Do-It mold it would be no issue as for the most part Do-It molds tend to have greater looseness tolerance for hooks. If you have a custom mold that is a "perfect" fit for a particular hook and you are trying to cross over a Victory hook it was not made for you may need to file a little clearance or have to expect some resistance to closing the mold as it forces the hooks into the slots. Does this mean I think Victory hooks are bad? No. They are sticky sharp, and they are as strong for their wire size as any other premium hook. They are using good metallurgy What about the size/shape/fitment tolerance? It should be ok. Like I said, they will probably work just fine in mass produced molds that also have loose tolerances. At worst you may have to jiggle the mold and press a little in a custom mold crossover that it wasn't specifically designed for it. Does that mean they are no good for custom molds? No. any custom mold maker can make a mold that will fit most of any hook you choose. Just make sure they have an ample sample size to test and measure. Don't be that guy who sends one hook and says "fit this one." Does this mean I shouldn't buy Victory hooks if I'm that guy who's voice goes up in pitch when I say the word EXACTLY? Not at all. They are very good, decent price, and better than many lower end hooks from many of the major manufacturers. Beside YOU CAN GET THEM. Even when I saw other hooks as unavailable and sold out I was able to get Victory hooks. Yeah, but you seemed to go out of your way to point out their shortcomings. I also tried to point out their strengths. Every hook was sticky sharp. The wire quality and metallurgy is very good, the price is good, and they are available. Now I am going to let you in on a little secret. I have chatted with Harry Simmons off and on for years. Mostly be email and a few times by phone. I started talking with him when he worked at Mustad, and he has history going back further than that. In my opinion he's not going to keep representing a product that isn't constantly evolving and improving. As consistent as Mustad hooks are he still would talk the actual manufacturing plants trying to get better and better consistency so that every hook in a model and size was always "perfectly" interchangeable with any other of that size and model number. I doubt that he left that drive for better and better product behind. The Victory hooks are good now, and they will be getting better over time.
    2 points
  2. Where are Victory Hooks made? Thanks, Pete
    1 point
  3. Just for reference on the drying subject, this is what I had happened on some 2.5's from several years ago. I sprayed the silver very heavy and hit it with the hair dryer, the surface paint dried but was still wet underneath apparently. It was dry enough the apply a stencil to the side of the bait and spray the stripes without messing up the silver base. After I dipped them in KBS they wrinkled as seen . I sprayed some other colorways at the same time that had less paint that didn't wrinkle. I make sure each layer is dry now and haven't had this issue since.
    1 point
  4. Remember that the hair dryer (I mean heat gun), is for drying the paint. Createx paints were created for cloth, T-Shirts, and heating cross links the paint to make it stronger, but that is not necessary on lures. Wicked and the other Createx paints won't cross link so that helps nothing. But, drying between coats, or at least allowing it to completely between coats, is critical.
    1 point
  5. Thanks AZ! This does help - I'll be adding a hair dryer to the kit Van
    1 point
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